My name is Simon Peter Hughes and I am from the United Kingdom I was born in 1973 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, the hometown of William Shakespeare. I attended Stratford-upon-Avon High School between 1984 and 1991. Between 1991 and 1995 I studied French and Spanish at the University of Bradford, where I also learnt Catalan and Esperanto. I received an MA in English language teaching from the University of Warwick two years later. I have been teaching English as a foreign language since 1997, in Turkey, Poland, Japan and Taiwan. I have been living in Taiwan since April 2003. I was a research assistant at Chang Gung University from June 2022 until December 2023. I am now back teaching English to children again.

I am not to be confused with the cricketer Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat politician Simon Hughes or Simon Pollard Hughes Jr, I am none of those people.

I first discovered Wikipedia in 2005 and finally got up the courage to become a registered editor a few months later. I have edited articles on the Simple English Wikipedia and on Wikipedia's Catalan and French versions. I have made several contributions to the Spanish Wikipedia and I have won a prize for helping to improve the Esperanto Wikipedia.

I have also edited Wikisource, Wikivoyage, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wiktionary, Wikinews, Wikimedia Commons, Wikispecies and Wikidata. I used to edit Uncyclopedia under the username Spews1973 but I lost interest in that site because I found most of it disgusting and simply not funny. I regularly edit some Fandom wikis and have edited a few other wikis under the same name that I use here. I am Spud on RationalWiki and SimonoTerpomo on TV Tropes.

I read Wikipedia much more often than I edit it. I have found it very useful when my students ask me questions like "How fast can a husky run?", "How many people died in the Second World War?" or "What do hippopotamuses eat?" I also enjoy reading it just for fun.

The Minor Barnstar
This user has been awarded the Minor Barnstar in appreciation for his work as a WikiGnome.
The Epic Barnstar
This user has been awarded the Epic Barnstar.
The Reviewer Barnstar
This user has been awarded the Reviewer Barnstar.

Special Edition New Page Patroller's Barnstar

This user has been awarded the Special Edition New Page Patroller's Barnstar.

The New Page Reviewer's Iron Award

This user has been awarded the New Page Reviewer's Iron Award for over 360 article reviews during 2022 and over 360 article reviews during 2023..
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Thank you for your tireless contributions to the New page patrol. Your efforts are immensely valued. Thilsebatti (talk) 08:59, 16 November 2023 (UTC)
The Order of the Superior Scribe of Wikipedia   
This award is given to Simon Peter Hughes for collecting more than 500 points during the October 2023 NPP backlog drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to the drive! Hey man im josh (talk) 01:42, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Planetary Gear Award

This award is given to Simon Peter Hughes for collecting more than 100 points per week in the October 2023 NPP backlog drive. Thank you so much for your continuous contributions to the drive! Hey man im josh (talk) 01:28, 1 November 2023 (UTC)
The New Page Patrol Medal of Merit
This user has been awarded the New Page Patrol Medal of Merit.
Statue of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon